1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a clamp and, more particularly, to a one-piece molded plastic clamp suitable for clamping surgical towels, drapes and the like by single-hand, manual operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Towel clamps for surgical use are well known and are generally molded in one-piece from various types of moldable resilient plastic material. Known clamps are generally U-shaped and normally open. Because of the resiliency of the material the clamp normally is open except when the arms of the clamp are pressed inwardly and latched in order to press the ends of the arms together.
One type of known, one-piece, plastic towel clamp is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,071 (Reimels). The clamp shown in this patent is a planar U-shaped structure including a pair of parallel toothed members extended inwardly from one arm and a corresponding locking member and guiding lug extending inwardly from the other arm. The toothed members are spaced in a direction transverse to the plane of the clamp to form a channel between the members. The teeth on each toothed member are aligned so two teeth are engaged by the locking member at any one time. The locking member engages the teeth of each of the parallel toothed members as the two arms are pressed together, and the guiding lug slides in the channel to prevent twisting of the arms relative to each other so they will not become disengaged. The disadvantage associated with this particular construction is that it cannot be molded in a simple, clam-shell type mold and, consequently, requires a molding operation which utilizes movable cores or other elements to create the channel between the parallel toothed members.
It is an object of this invention to produce a one-piece plastic clamp having the advantages offered by the aforementioned prior art device but able to be molded in a simple clam-shell type mold without the need for any auxiliary core elements.